Torture
Ongoing Torture
Submitted by davidswanson on Wed, 2009-06-17 14:39.New York Times, April 15, 2009.
Chris Matthews interview of Axelrod, video and background info, May 21, 2009.
Dan Rather on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, broadcast June 2, 2009.
New York Times, June 17, 2009.
SERE Psychologists Still Used in Special Ops Interrogations and Detention, July 2009.
Gitmo Is Gitting Worse, July 2009.
Ongoing Abuse at Bagram September 2009.
And Ongoing Reliance on Tortured Evidence:
Washington Independent, June 24, 2009.
Target Of Obama-Era Rendition Alleges Torture.
Torture Plane Still Flying, November 2, 2009.
John Yoo: "I'll Never Resign."
Submitted by Chip on Fri, 2009-11-06 22:35.Cynthia Papermaster's report on John Yoo follows:
First, a report on our Yoo action yesterday and YouTube of the rousing song "Tell John Yoo That Torture is a Crime." Our next Yoo protest is Wednesday, Nov. 18, 3 p.m. at the law school.
I'm beginning to get to know this guy John Yoo. Today Toby Blome and I went into his civil procedure class as soon as it ended. Toby beat her beautiful drum and I called him out for enabling torture. Yoo packed up his briefcase and as he was leaving we kept asking him when he was going to resign from teaching at UC. And I said you ARE going to be prosecuted, Mr. Yoo. He said "have a nice day." Toby followed him down the hall and up the stairs and he said to her "I'll never resign."
Chief Justice on Ninth Circuit Meets With Jay Bybee's Protesters
Submitted by davidswanson on Thu, 2009-11-05 11:15.By Joe Walsh - Lone Vet, Individuals for Justice, Veterans Against Torture
The 2:30 coffee with the Chief Justice of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit did indeed take place. I was stunned.
This morning when Chief Justice Alex Kozinski arrived at the courthouse he was met with our Reward [for bybee's arrest and conviction] sign now at $2,000.00. This time he had three or four guys with him, all clerks. He stopped and asked how I was, and read the sign. He then did something that I did not believe would ever happen, he gave me his business card with his phone number on it and said we should have coffee today about 2:30. I explained to him that his marshals would not let me on their steps never mind going into the courthouse. He said show them the card and they will let you in. I did not believe this meeting was going to happen; but what the hell?
US: Govt Lawyers Seek to Quash Rendition Lawsuit
Submitted by Chip on Wed, 2009-11-04 23:03.US: Govt Lawyers Seek to Quash Rendition Lawsuit
By William Fisher | IPS
The long road to the proverbial day in court just got longer for five men who claim they were "disappeared" and tortured by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
The men, who say they were victims of the extraordinary rendition programme conducted during the administration of President George W. Bush, have been trying since 2007 to get their cases heard on the merits.
But it is now far from clear that the merits of these cases will be heard any time soon – if ever. The reason is that the Department of Justice – first through Bush administration lawyers, now through Barack Obama administration lawyers - has invoked the so-called "state secrets" privilege, claiming that a public trial would endanger U.S. national security.
The latest development in the case came last week, when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals set aside an earlier ruling by three of its own judges and said a majority of its judges had voted to refer the case to an 11-judge panel for a new hearing. The request to rehear the case, now scheduled for Dec. 15, came from the Obama administration.
That decision put on hold the earlier findings of the three-judge panel, which had reinstated the Mohamed suit in April. That 3-0 ruling rejected arguments by the Bush and Obama administrations that the case concerned secrets too sensitive to disclose in court. Read more.
U.S. Settles Suit With Muslims In Post-9/11 Abuse
Submitted by Chip on Tue, 2009-11-03 21:13.U.S. settles suit with Muslims in post-9/11 abuse
By Christine Kearney | Reuters
The report said videotapes showed some detention center staff "misused strip searches and restraints to punish detainees and that officers improperly and illegally recorded detainees' meetings with their attorneys."
The lawsuit said some of the plaintiffs, upon entering the jail, had their faces smashed into a wall where a blood-smeared American flag T-shirt was taped and told "welcome to America," according to the lawsuit.
The U.S. government will pay $1.26 million to five Muslim men detained for months without charges after the September 11 attacks who sued for unlawful imprisonment and abuse, their lawyers said on Tuesday.
The men claimed they suffered inhumane and degrading treatment in a Brooklyn detention center, including solitary confinement, severe beatings, incessant verbal abuse and a blackout on communications with their families and attorneys.
Rachel Meeropol, a lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights who brought the case in Brooklyn federal court, said it was the largest settlement so far for claims of abuse in the United States following the attacks of September 11, 2001.
The Justice Department agreed to settle the suit, which was filed in 2002 after hundreds of immigrants were rounded up and held for months following the attacks, according to the CCR.
A spokesman for the U.S. Justice Department was not immediately available to comment on the settlement, in which the U.S. government admits no liability or fault. The five men were all eventually released after being cleared of any connection to terrorism but then deported. Read more.
Listen to the Victims of the Torture We Are Not Prosecuting
Submitted by davidswanson on Tue, 2009-11-03 00:14.No Justice for Canadian Rendition Victim Maher Arar
Submitted by davidswanson on Mon, 2009-11-02 18:15.Court Refuses to Hold U.S. Officials Accountable for Complicity in Torture Abroad
November 2, 2009, New York – Today, a federal Court of Appeals dismissed Canadian citizen Maher Arar’s case against U.S. officials for their role in sending him to Syria to be tortured and interrogated for a year. Arar is represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR). The court concluded that Arar’s case raised too many sensitive foreign policy and secrecy issues to permit relief. It leaves the federal officials involved free of any legal accountability for what they did.
'Torture flight' plane spotted in Birmingham
Submitted by davidswanson on Mon, 2009-11-02 11:26.More on ongoing torture here.
Judge Orders DOJ To Turn Over Abu Zubaydah’s Diaries to Defense Attorneys
Submitted by davidswanson on Sun, 2009-11-01 22:52.By Jason Leopold, The Public Record
Abu Zubaydah, the first high-value detainee captured after 9/11, is expected to finally gain access to diaries he wrote during the years while he was being brutally tortured at secret black-site prisons by CIA interrogators.
A federal court judge has ordered the government to turn over unredacted volumes of the diaries and other “specified” writings to defense attorneys representing Zubaydah.
Although the order issued by US District Court Judge Richard Roberts on September 30 was filed under seal, Zubaydah’s attorney, Brent Mickum, said in an interview that while he could not discuss the substance of the ruling, it was his opinion that the order “should have been made public from the get-go” because “there’s nothing in [the order] that should be considered classified.”
Released Prisoner Claims 9-Year-Old Was Tortured (Presumably in Afghanistan)
Submitted by davidswanson on Sat, 2009-10-31 11:17.9yr-old boy tortured, says former Guantanamo detainee
By The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: A British Muslim detained for three years at the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison manned by the United States, revealed that the youngest detainee he knew of was a nine-year-old boy who was also tortured like the rest.
Ruhal Ahmed’s story was among more accounts of atrocities committed against the detainees at Guantanamo, told before an open commission hearing which began Friday on the sidelines of an international conference to criminalise war.
The testimonies before the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission Hearings will be submitted to a tribunal in conjunction with the Criminalise War Conference and War Crimes Tribunal 2009 spearheaded by former Malaysian prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
CIA Kept Prisoners Alive to Keep Torturing Them, Lawyer Says
Submitted by davidswanson on Wed, 2009-10-28 23:25.By Muriel Kane, Raw Story, via alternet.org
According to human rights lawyer John Sifton, the CIA tortured detainees so severely that it had to take measures to keep them alive so they could continue being tortured.
Sifton, who is currently the director of One World Research, explained to an interviewer for Russia Today that there was both a CIA detention program and a military detention program, which was modeled on that created by the CIA.
"The CIA program was by far the most secretive," Sifton noted. "That's the one that only had a few dozen detainees at any given time -- but it's the one that saw the biggest abuses, the most serious forms of torture."
"In the military, there was actually a larger number of deaths than with the CIA," he continued. "The CIA engaged in some horrendous abuses, but they appear to have taken precautions to have actually prevented people from dying -- which might sound humanitarian, but in fact was kind of sickening."
They DESERVE Justice 2
Submitted by danielifearn on Wed, 2009-10-28 17:53.
Even the least of us deserves justice and accountability starts with you. So why don't you send out a reminder. Even Bush deserves all the justice he can get and we should ensure he gets his day in court.
Use these images as a 4 PAK and send 4 different cards to the same person; or, choose your favorite and send the same postcard to 4 different persons.
It's easy. Each individual postcard is formatted to the dimensions of 4.25"x5.5". Quarter a sheet of paper and combine the cards as you like. Don't forget to print the other side. Remember the postage stamps. Then mail one to your best beloved, your friends and neighbors, some acquaintance--your politicians and their parties. Show someone you care about them and about justice. Don’t forget Cheney, Condi, Gonzales and Rove: CCGR 4 PAK.
MAY BE USED AS HANDBILLS W/O REVERSE SIDE.
Congress Must Stop Torture
Submitted by davidswanson on Wed, 2009-10-28 13:50.A Call for Congress to Take Action on Torture
October 28th, 2009
You can read the petition below, but in order to sign you must be registered and logged in! (If you can't get to those pages you already are registered and logged in.)
Read and sign as individual or organization and see further ways to help after signing. (If you can't get to the page you are not registered and logged in.)
Or read without signing below:
Court to reconsider CIA torture flight ruling
Submitted by davidswanson on Tue, 2009-10-27 20:44.By Bob Egelko, SF Chronicle
SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court granted the Obama administration's request Tuesday to rehear a case over a Bay Area company's alleged participation in CIA torture flights, setting the stage for a critical test of government claims of secrecy and national security.
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco had reinstated a suit in April by five men who accused the company, Jeppesen Dataplan of San Jose, of taking part in the CIA's so-called extraordinary rendition program that led to their imprisonment and torture. The 3-0 ruling rejected arguments by the Bush and Obama administrations that the case concerned secrets too sensitive to disclose in court.
The full appeals court set aside that ruling Tuesday and said a majority of its judges had voted to refer the case to an 11-judge panel for a new hearing, on a date not yet scheduled.
The court said six of its 27 judges had disqualified themselves from the case, for reasons that were not disclosed. The six included Judge Jay Bybee, who as a Justice Department lawyer in the Bush administration wrote a March 2002 memo saying the president could legally transfer captives to foreign custody.
READ THE REST AT SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE.
ACLU Press Release posted below fold here:
Guantánamo torture: UK wants claims of complicity to be heard in secret
Submitted by davidswanson on Tue, 2009-10-27 12:08.• Seven claimants go to high court to fight legal move
• Disclosure would harm intelligence links, says FO
Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo – Andy Worthington’s US tour dates, November 2009
Submitted by davidswanson on Mon, 2009-10-26 14:34.Andy Worthington, author of The Guantánamo Files and co-director (with filmmaker Polly Nash) of the new Guantánamo documentary, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo,” will be visiting the US in November to show the film in New York, Virginia, Washington D.C., Berkeley and San Francisco. The itinerary is below. Please note that all events are free — although some require booking in advance, and not all are open to the general public.
Welcoming for a War Criminal in Canada; Activists Protest George W. Bush in Edmonton
Submitted by Chip on Fri, 2009-10-23 15:35.
Welcoming for a War Criminal in Canada; Activists Protest George W. Bush in Edmonton | Common Dreams
While former U.S. president George W. Bush talked about democracy inside a downtown Edmonton conference centre on Tuesday, hundreds of protesters were outside exercising their right to free speech with signs, songs and screams.
"Stop the killing, stop the war," the protesters chanted to the beat of a drum. They held signs that said "Bush is a war criminal;" "Bush lied, 1,000s died;" and "Canada is not Bush Country."
Several dozen police officers kept protesters away from the front of the Shaw Conference Centre and as the crowd grew, metal barricades went up between the police and the crowd.
Marilyn Gaa, who holds both American and Canadian citizenship, held a three-metre-tall black-clad Grim Reaper with a sign on his back that said: "GWB I am your biggest fan" and on the front, "Thanks for 8 great years."
"For the eight years that George Bush was president I was profoundly ashamed and alarmed and angry and now it seems so unfair that he's making a world tour trying to share his 'wisdom' and make a lot of money," said Gaa. Read more.
Cheney Falsely Accuses Obama Of ‘Libel’ Against CIA Over Torture
Submitted by Chip on Thu, 2009-10-22 19:07.Cheney falsely accuses Obama of ‘libel’ against CIA over torture
By Ron Brynaert | Raw Story
Torture is not torture, according to former Vice President Dick Cheney, and to refer it to as such should be considered libelous. Even if it doesn't actually qualify as libel.
The Washington Times' Amanda Carpenter reports, "Maintaining his stature as one of the most forceful defenders of the Bush Administration's defense policies former Vice President Dick Cheney accused President Obama of committing 'libel' against CIA interrogators on Wednesday" during a speech at the Center for Security Policy.
"In the speech, Mr. Cheney charged that President Obama has 'filled the air with vague and useless platitude' when talking about torture and by calling enhanced interrogation techniques 'torture" he has committed 'libel' against CIA interrogators whom Mr. Cheney described as 'dedicated professionals who acted honorably and well, in our country’s name and in our country’s cause,'" Carpenter adds.
Cheney's full comments Wednesday:
"In short, to call enhanced interrogation a program of torture is not only to disregard the program’s legal underpinnings and safeguards. Such accusations are a libel against dedicated professionals who acted honorably and well, in our country’s name and in our country’s cause. What’s more, to completely rule out enhanced interrogation in the future, in favor of half-measures, is unwise in the extreme. In the fight against terrorism, there is no middle ground, and half-measures keep you half exposed."
As Salon's Glenn Greenwald noted last June, "The U.S. has prosecuted those acts as torture in the past. Multiple media outlets and even the U.S. Government have routinely described those acts as “torture” when used against Americans, rather than by Americans. The tactics are ones we copied from manuals designed to inure our own troops to the torture techniques used by some of the world’s worst tyrants. They resulted in numerous deaths. Until the Bush administration decided to call it something other than 'torture' so that they could do it, nobody had any questions about whether this was 'torture.'" Read more.
Bands Want To Know If Their Music Was Used On Gitmo Detainees
Submitted by Chip on Thu, 2009-10-22 18:51.Bands want to know if their music was used on Gitmo detainees | CNN
A coalition of top musicians, including R.E.M. and Pearl Jam, want to know if their music was used by the U.S. military as part of controversial interrogation methods at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The artists have endorsed a series of Freedom of Information Act requests, which were filed Thursday morning, asking the U.S. government to declassify documents that would reveal which artists' work was used on detainees at U.S. prison facilities and military detention centers, including the one at Guantanamo Bay.
The National Security Archive, a Washington-based independent research institute that advocates "for the right to know," filed the requests on behalf of the Close Gitmo Now campaign, which launched this week, the archive's senior analyst Kate Doyle said.
The multimillion-dollar national grassroots Close Gitmo Now campaign is aimed at pressuring members of Congress to support President Obama's endeavor to close the Guantanamo Bay prison. It is supported by a coalition of retired generals and liberal activists.
The requests are based on the testimony of former Guantanamo prisoners and guards, as well as declassified documents, that identified music from 35 artists -- ranging from AC/DC tunes to the theme from Sesame Street -- used in the interrogations of detainees, Doyle said. See a list of bands and songs involved (PDF). Read more.
FILM LAUNCH: Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo
Submitted by Chip on Thu, 2009-10-22 04:56.
FILM LAUNCH: Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo
So the time has finally arrived when the project that filmmaker Polly Nash and I began two years ago has its first public screening. “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” has its UK premiere this evening at the Cochrane Theatre, in London’s West End. I hope to see some of you there, and to see others in the States, between November 4 and 13. Details of my US itinerary will follow very soon, and a short trailer is available here.
About the film
“Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” is a new documentary film, directed by Polly Nash and Andy Worthington, telling the story of Guantánamo (and including sections on extraordinary rendition and secret prisons) with a particular focus on how the Bush administration turned its back on domestic and international laws, how prisoners were rounded up in Afghanistan and Pakistan without adequate screening (and often for bounty payments), and why some of these men may have been in Afghanistan or Pakistan for reasons unconnected with militancy or terrorism (as missionaries or humanitarian aid workers, for example).
www.VelvetRevolution.us
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